Digital News Report – A new study concluded that eating foods fried in olive oil did not have a link to heart disease. The study was led by Professor Pilar Guallar-Castillón from Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain and the results were published online at bmj.com.

In Spain, olive and sunflower oil is typically used for frying, so they caution that the results would differ in countries that use solid or re-use oils when they fry foods.

Over 11 years, the researchers surveyed 40,757 adults ranging in age between 29 to 69 years old about their cooking methods such as if they fried their food, and if they battered, coated, or sautéed. At the beginning of the study, none of the participants had heart disease.

Next, the researchers sorted the data into four groups, those that ate the least amount of fried foods up to those that ate the most amounts of fried foods, with the two other groups being in between the low and high consumption groups.

Over the 11 years of the study, there were 606 events associated with heart disease that were recorded. There were also 1,134 deaths. The study authors concluded that in the Mediterranean country where olive oil and sunflower oil is predominantly used for frying, there was no link between heart disease and high consumption of fried foods.